BOOK REVIEW: HOW TO MAKE A FEW BILLION DOLLARS

It starts with a simple idea: Think big, but stay practical.

That line, repeated in different ways throughout Brad Jacobs’ How to Make a Few Billion Dollars, is not the brag of a tycoon but the steady drumbeat of a man who has built empires in logistics, equipment rental, and finance — and still insists on the discipline of doing the basics right. The title might sound like Silicon Valley chest-thumping, but what Jacobs offers is far subtler: a manual on how to dream audaciously, execute methodically, and never lose sight of the human side of business.

Jacobs’ story is not your typical rags-to-riches tale. It’s more a chronicle of pattern recognition and persistence. He’s started and led seven companies, all now worth billions, but what sets him apart isn’t luck — it’s his ability to see opportunity where others see chaos, to act fast but think long-term. This book distills the lessons from that journey, and in doing so, offers something rare: a pragmatic philosophy of capitalism that actually makes sense in an age of hype and burnout.

Big Thinking, Small Steps

“Think big” is easy advice to give and even easier to misuse. Most people interpret it as dreaming without execution. Jacobs doesn’t. His version of big thinking is tied to what he calls “tactical realism.” You begin with a vision that’s larger than your current resources — a market transformation, a new industry, a reimagined customer experience — but you must anchor it in small, testable, repeatable actions.

Every giant company he built began with meticulous groundwork: gathering data, testing assumptions, understanding human psychology, and building systems that could scale. The difference between fantasy and ambition, Jacobs suggests, lies in the plan. You must be ready to execute one small disciplined act after another — day after day — until the big idea starts to move under its own momentum.

He dismisses the romantic notion of the lone genius. What wins in the end, he argues, is structured obsession — that blend of curiosity, endurance, and humility that keeps you tinkering with your model until it works.

The Mindset Before the Money

The book’s early chapters focus heavily on psychology. To make billions, Jacobs insists, you must first rearrange your brain. It sounds dramatic, but what he means is that most people are trapped by their own limiting beliefs about risk, effort, and what’s possible.

He breaks this down with examples from his early ventures: how fear, handled properly, can become fuel; how failure, dissected unemotionally, becomes feedback; and how optimism, when paired with realism, is a force multiplier.

What’s refreshing is his refusal to peddle positive-thinking clichés. He treats mindset as a working discipline — a craft that you refine like coding or carpentry. It’s not enough to “believe in yourself.” You must train yourself to act decisively, stay calm amid chaos, and keep learning faster than your competitors.

In a world that worships hustle, Jacobs preaches something more grounded: focus. “Do fewer things, better.”

Finding the Wave Before It Breaks

One of Jacobs’ superpowers is timing — the ability to see trends just before they become obvious. He did it in waste management in the 1980s, in equipment rental in the 1990s, and in logistics in the 2000s.

He argues that technology is the great amplifier of our time — it magnifies both opportunity and risk. But technology itself is not the business; it’s the force multiplier of a good idea. The real work lies in understanding human needs, spotting inefficiencies, and aligning your company with long-term structural shifts.

The point is not to be trendy but to be early and right. “Trends are like waves,” he writes. “Catch them too soon, and you waste energy. Too late, and you drown in the whitewater.”

For any entrepreneur in Uganda or elsewhere, this insight is gold. The market rewards those who prepare in silence long before the crowd catches on — whether it’s renewable energy, AI, logistics, or digital finance.

M&A Without Mayhem

Jacobs is one of the world’s top dealmakers, but he’s blunt about the dangers of mergers and acquisitions. “Most M&A destroys value,” he says flatly. The reason? Ego, poor integration, and cultural mismatch.

His advice reads like the opposite of the Wall Street playbook: move slowly, integrate meticulously, and prioritize people over spreadsheets. The financial model may look great, but if the human systems — incentives, communication, leadership — don’t sync, the deal dies in the boardroom before it ever hits the market.

It’s a lesson worth remembering in a continent like Africa, where consolidation is the next frontier. Scale, Jacobs warns, only helps when culture and execution keep pace.

The Power of Teams and “Electric Meetings”

For all his talk of billions, Jacobs is most passionate when writing about people. His chapters on building teams and running “electric meetings” are among the book’s best.

He sees a company as a living organism — a superorganism in his words — whose intelligence depends on the clarity and trust within it. The leader’s job is to make that organism think faster and smarter.

Meetings, then, are not bureaucratic rituals but moments of energy transfer. A good meeting is “electric”: focused, candid, and generative. Everyone leaves smarter than they arrived. He insists on open debate, rapid decision-making, and no passengers. Every voice counts — but clarity of purpose must prevail.

There’s a quiet humility in how Jacobs describes his management style: listening more than he talks, hiring people smarter than him, and creating conditions for brilliance to emerge.

Fear, Speed, and the Value of Humility

At the heart of his philosophy is paradox: stay humble while chasing greatness. Use fear without being ruled by it. Move fast, but never lose your balance.

Jacobs calls fear of failure “a healthy motivator.” It sharpens focus and fuels learning. But unchecked, it paralyzes. The trick is to make fear your servant, not your master — to channel it into preparation and urgency.

He also insists that humility is a strategic advantage. In a fast-changing world, arrogance is expensive. Markets evolve, technologies shift, consumer habits mutate. The leaders who thrive are the ones who stay teachable — the ones who admit what they don’t know and keep adjusting.

It’s an insight that applies as much to national economies as to personal finance. The Ugandan business ecosystem, for instance, often punishes vulnerability and rewards bluster. Jacobs flips that logic: those willing to learn fastest win longest.

Beyond the Money

Perhaps the most surprising thread in the book is how little it talks about money as an end. Jacobs uses wealth as a metaphor for impact. He argues that the principles of wealth creation — vision, execution, adaptability, empathy — are transferable. They work in the arts, philanthropy, sports, and even family life.

His success, he insists, is not about accumulation but creation. The joy is in building something that endures, something that improves lives. “Wealth,” he writes, “is not a number. It’s a process of increasing value — for others, for yourself, for the world.”

That’s a message that lands powerfully for anyone building from modest beginnings. You don’t need billions to apply billionaire discipline. You just need the mindset that treats every opportunity — every shilling, every relationship — as a seed worth nurturing.

Final Thoughts

Brad Jacobs’ How to Make a Few Billion Dollars isn’t a motivational pep talk. It’s a builder’s manual — dense with frameworks, reflections, and stories that reveal how empires are really made.

Its lessons could as easily apply to a mid-level manager in Kampala as to a Wall Street investor:

• Think big, but stay practical.

• Spot the trend before it breaks.

• Fear is useful — if you own it.

• People matter more than deals.

• Culture eats valuation for breakfast.

What lingers after the final page isn’t the glamour of billions but the quiet dignity of craftsmanship. Jacobs reminds us that wealth — real wealth — is built in layers: curiosity, courage, character, and execution.

And in that sense, this isn’t just a book about making money. It’s about mastering the art of making things happen.